She sits in the center of the road, the sun shining on her back. Black clouds loom ominously in the distance — she hopes their threat is empty.
Hunched over, she works hard. Around her, people walk by, pointing and murmuring to themselves. She reaches up to wipe her face, smearing black fingerprints across her cheek. Her hands are filthy, smothered with the chalk she blends patiently into the pavement. Before her, the bones of buildings are born.
“It’s going a lot faster than I thought it was going to,” Katelyn Wells, a junior in art and design, said. “It’s supposed to be the rebirth of Raleigh, so we wanted it to look like [the buildings] were springing up.”
Wells was one of 300 participants in the eighth-annual Raleigh Street Painting Festival, an event hosted by the Visual Arts Exchange Association and Gallery that brought together artists of all ages for 27 hours, side-by-side on one street. This year VAE teamed up with groups from all over Raleigh to hold the event in conjunction with the first year of Spark Con, a creative conference that used workshops, music, food, movies and fashion to showcase Raleigh’s creative talent and promote the sharing of ideas among creative minds.
There was no entry fee for the street painting festival, and participants designed their entries around this years theme, Celebrate Raleigh: Urban Renaissance. Held downtown at City Market, chalk was provided for free by Jerry’s Artarama, and the street was closed off between City Market and Moore Square so that artists would have plenty of space to work.
Wells’ partner, Matt Wickwire, a senior in architecture, said he gives Wells all the credit for their design. Both Wells and Wickwire work at Tony’s Cafe in City Market, and Wickwire said their decision to enter was last-minute.
“I was walking by it yesterday and I just decided we should do it,” he said.
Wells said they came up with the design while at work, and that their manager was kind enough to let them have a break so they could come work on the chalk drawing.
“The truth is that, even when we designed it yesterday, what we’ve done today has changed since then,” Wells said. “We’re just going to play it by ear.”
Emily Axtman, a junior in architecture, was another impulsive entry in the competition. She participated in the festival once, about three years ago when she was in high school. Her friend Justin LeBlanc, also a junior in architecture, convinced her to come out last-minute this year.
Axtman already had a visual idea worked out when she arrived at the festival Saturday morning, but she had to change it after seeing another person working on the same idea. Her final design consisted of a skyline view with buildings passing through a transparent plane from old to new, in keeping with the theme, she said.
“I’ve got to work fast, but I think I can do it,” she said.
LeBlanc is a seasoned veteran of the Raleigh Street Painting Festival, this being his sixth year entering it. He won awards the past two years — one for best design in the adult category and one for best of show.
“I’m just here to have fun. It’s kind of like a tradition for me,” he said.
The lack of restrictions made the festival a good opportunity for creative minds to showcase their talents, and while there were prizes offered in categories like design and best of show, as well as people’s choice, participants agreed they were in it for the fun and the experience.
“It’s such a good atmosphere around here,” Axtman said.
